Misitam or Eastern Market

Traveling to DC tomorrow with out town guest (South African) and she is wanting to experience DC. In addition to traditional sight seeing, I want to take her for lunch. She will have options later in her stay for BBQ and crab cakes but can anyone suggest which of these 2 places is best for Saturday? I have never been to either. Thanks in advance.

That's a tough one. It all depends what kind of atmosphere she'd be most comfortable with. If she doesn't mind Eastern Market's noisy surroundings and crowded communal tables, go with that. If she wants something more along the lines of a traditional cafeteria, take her to the Indian Museum.

Eastern Market's "East" building is a new (and very nice) temporary structure which will be in place until the old South Hall gets restored. Market Lunch is wonderful and very DC. I would absolutely take an out of town guest there.And get a crabcake sandwich there too!Let us know how you did!

the Market is BACK - different in small ways and (oddly) too clean but at least the new hall has a sprinkler system and HVAC. Mrs. Calomiri is just so cute, Jack (cheese counter) is as irascible as ever, the Inman's willl be distracted during ball games and Canales stilll cheerful.

i agree w/ everyone else that they are very different experiences. i really like Mitsitam. I think the food is quite great esp for a museum cafeteria. Maybe you could ask her what her fave kinds of food are and then decide from there. Since shes already getting the down home southern thing later in her stay maybe Mitsitam would be better -- it's certainly unique!

Certainly an apples vs. oranges choice, for me the tiebreaker would be if the visitor was curious about native american cultures. it's far from perfect, but I enjoy all the choices and regional areas. We all love EM and the food is fine market food (and I take guests there), but it's not a slam dunk call.